Electronics FUN's BeagleBone Black-Based Oscilloscope Puts Diagnostics in Your Browser
Open design requires no software to operate and boasts two channels, 100MHz of bandwidth, and full cross-platform compatibility.
Belgium-based Electronics FUN is looking to make oscilloscopes more accessible with an Ethernet- or Wi-Fi-connected, smartphone-friendly design built around the open-hardware BeagleBone Black single-board computer (SBC).
"The core of the scope is a real-time Ethernet-based digital storage oscilloscope (DSO)," the company explains of the project. "It can have an extended function of equivalent-time sampling by hooking up an additional up to 1 GHz sampling head. This perfect collaboration not only allows the scope to trace an input signal in real-time but also offers users an opportunity to catch repetitive high frequency signals."
"The DSO part features 8 bits, 250 MS/s, 100 MHz bandwidth, dual channels, external trigger, no troublesome software installation (only web browser needed), software control panel and Wi-Fi-range connectivity. Design files and software code of the DSO part can be shared together with the product. You can easily learn how to DIY your own oscilloscope and upgrade it for the final product."
The oscilloscope features two input channels with 100 MHz of bandwidth and an eight-bit vertical resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC) — equating to around 6.3 effective bits for the whole system. Each input is software-selectable between AC and DC coupling as well as for DC offset adjustment, and supports an input range from 4mVpp to 5Vpp - and overload protection up to 70V DC+AC peak.
Full documentation for the project, including schematics and the source code which runs on the BeagleBone Black's PRUs, can be found on the project's Hackaday.io page; assembled boards are available for $130, excluding the BeagleBone Black, from the Electronics FUN Tindie store.